Neon Haystack

When his brother vanishes without a trace in a city of a million people, it's up to Steve Kolchak to find him. James Michael Ullman (1925-1997) was an American novelist and newspaper writer/editor known for his work in and about the Chicago area. Ullman served in World War II and the U.S. Navy for two and a half years, and also served as an Air Force civilian employee on Guam. He was educated at Chicago's Wright Junior College and De Paul University, eventually receiving a Masters in Journalism from Northwestern University in 1954. He became a newspaperman soon after, serving as police reporter on the La Porte, Indiana Herald-Argus, then as editor of the Skokie, IL News, and served as head of the United Press Bureau's Chicago desk. He won a prize in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine's 1953 contest with his first story, "e;Anything New on the Strangler?"e; His short stories continued to appear in EQMM through the early 1960s, when he turned to novels.